| Anything Is Possible | |
| Author: | Elizabeth Strout |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Set In: | Amgash, Illinois |
| Published: | 2017 |
| Publisher: | Random House |
| Media Type: | Print, e-book, audiobook |
| Awards: | The Story Prize |
| Preceded By: | My Name Is Lucy Barton |
| Followed By: | Oh William! |
Anything Is Possible is a 2017 novel of related short stories by the American author Elizabeth Strout.[1] [2] The novel returns to the fictional rural town of Amgash, Illinois, which is the protagonist's hometown in Strout's 2016 novel My Name Is Lucy Barton.[3] Former U.S. President Barack Obama included Anything Is Possible on a list of the best books he read in 2017.[4] Anything is Possible won The Story Prize, a book award for short story collections.[5]
| Story | Originally published in |
|---|---|
| "The Sign" | Original |
| "Windmills" | Original |
| "Cracked" | Original |
| "The Hit-Thumb Theory" | Original |
| "Mississippi Mary" | Original |
| "Sister" | Original |
| "Dottie's Bed & Breakfast" | Original |
| "Snow-Blind" | Virginia Quarterly Review |
| "Gift" | Original |
Anything Is Possible received positive reviews from critics,[6] who praised Strout as a master of the novel-in-stories form, with each short story filling in a piece of her “gracefully constructed narrative puzzle.” According to Book Marks, the book received "rave" reviews based on twenty-eight critic reviews: twenty-five "rave" reviews and three "positive" reviews.[7] On Bookmarks July/August 2017 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews.[8] [9]
Writing for The New York Times, Jennifer Senior said, “Strout was born to be an omniscient narrator, born to flit and swoop from one crooked perch to the next.”